Blind Eye

YOU CAN believe President Bush on Haiti. White House press secretary Marlin Fitzwater recently said the State Department had investigated claims that refugees who the U.S. has returned to Haiti have been persecuted. Fitzwater said, "We have no evidence that there is that kind of brutality."Or you can believe Alan Tomlinson of National Public Radio and Nathaniel Sheppard of the Chicago Tribune.Tomlinson and Sheppard went to a mountain village they heard had been burned because its peasants supported the ousted, democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

The recent coverage of police brutality in Baltimore has been unnerving ( "Civil wrongs," Oct. 5). However, the recent column by Dan Rodricks reflects exactly how disgusted I've been with every other area of city governance. Mr. Rodricks points out how the police commissioner and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake turn a blind eye to paying fines and never delving into the problem ( "Mayor should have seen troubling brutality trend," Oct. 5). But to raise taxes to cover the consequences while raising their salaries and enjoying all the "perks" of office is not fixing the problem.

Walk on the beach together --it will be cool there.Taste the salt.Seaweed is clotted around a dead clam.The sun rolls like a blind eye.The waves steam.It is delightful here, they will say.Yellow-decaying waterforms your footsteps.

Congress seems to be focusing its austerity efforts on America's most vulnerable citizens, including those who need help feeding their families. Meanwhile, large food subsidies that benefit the most affluent Americans aren't even on the table. The House of Representatives recently voted to cut $4 billion a year from food stamps, known more formally as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). A cut of that level would mean 3.8 million Americans would lose the help they receive to put food on their families' tables, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The recent coverage of police brutality in Baltimore has been unnerving ( "Civil wrongs," Oct. 5). However, the recent column by Dan Rodricks reflects exactly how disgusted I've been with every other area of city governance. Mr. Rodricks points out how the police commissioner and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake turn a blind eye to paying fines and never delving into the problem ( "Mayor should have seen troubling brutality trend," Oct. 5). But to raise taxes to cover the consequences while raising their salaries and enjoying all the "perks" of office is not fixing the problem.

There are roughly 16,000 vacant rowhouses scattered about Baltimore. The city owns about 3,500 of them. A Baltimore police major owns one of them. It's ironic because most of these houses are attributed to slumlords and absentee landlords. But here a high ranking member of the city police force owns one of the city's foremost symbols of blight. The major, Melvin T. Russell, commands the Eastern District, historically one of the most violent and one of the most pockmarked by vacant rowhouses.

Your recent editorial on the proposed Red Line in Baltimore turned a blind eye to the project's huge funding and performance gaps ( "Charm City Express," Sept. 16). You say the state has $1.5 billion pledged for the Red Line, but The Sun's previous story lists the Red Line's allocation as only $519 million of the $1.5 billion figure, which includes "more than a dozen other transportation projects in the area. " So the state has accounted for only a tiny piece of the Red Line's total $2.6 billion price tag. The rest is tied up in vague hopes for city and county contributions, "public-private partnerships" (as if any business will want to take on such a sure money loser)

`R' in Republican shouldn't stand for `retreat'Recent controversy has been stirred up, possibly "enhanced" by the press, looking to start a fight over our Carroll County Republicans running of a Beretta pistol raffle to raise funds.This has sparked much debate, supposedly supplanting "reasonable debate" on Maryland Attorney General Joseph Curran's gun ban. As in any issue, symbolism is important.I would like to share some images which come to mind. First, note the last Liberty Tree was just recently taken down in Annapolis.

By Steve Weinberg and By Steve Weinberg,Special to the Sun | September 12, 1999

"Blind Eye: How the Medical Establishment Let a Doctor Get Away With Murder," by James B. Stewart. Simon & Schuster. 334 pages. $25.Readers who have never watched physicians ignore or protect the wrongdoing of other physicians will probably have trouble accepting "Blind Eye" as fact.But fact it is. Stewart, a celebrated Wall Street Journal reporter who later wrote books exposing Wall Street corruption ("Den of Thieves") and presidential chicanery ("Blood Sport"), this time examines the medical establishment.

Predatory lending in city just a conspiracy theory First, Wells Fargo is accused of redlining. Perhaps they wanted to stay away from high risk loans? Now it is predatory lending practices ("The suit must go on," June 30). Perhaps they were "encouraged" to do so by the Fed's policies? No one forced the folks receiving the loans to sign the documents. It was incumbent upon those receiving the loan to review the terms and conditions. Many chose the subprime loans because they didn't have to provide proof of income.

Your recent editorial on the proposed Red Line in Baltimore turned a blind eye to the project's huge funding and performance gaps ( "Charm City Express," Sept. 16). You say the state has $1.5 billion pledged for the Red Line, but The Sun's previous story lists the Red Line's allocation as only $519 million of the $1.5 billion figure, which includes "more than a dozen other transportation projects in the area. " So the state has accounted for only a tiny piece of the Red Line's total $2.6 billion price tag. The rest is tied up in vague hopes for city and county contributions, "public-private partnerships" (as if any business will want to take on such a sure money loser)

Since the arrival of the New Year, America's Nigerian diaspora, including its significant community in Maryland, must be dismayed by the news from Africa's most populous country. The reluctance ofNigeria'sgovernment to prevent or punish violence between Muslims and Christians has invited further violations of religious freedom and losses of innocent life. During the first week of January, in one day in Adamawa State in the north, at least 20 people were killed and 15 others wounded.

There are roughly 16,000 vacant rowhouses scattered about Baltimore. The city owns about 3,500 of them. A Baltimore police major owns one of them. It's ironic because most of these houses are attributed to slumlords and absentee landlords. But here a high ranking member of the city police force owns one of the city's foremost symbols of blight. The major, Melvin T. Russell, commands the Eastern District, historically one of the most violent and one of the most pockmarked by vacant rowhouses.

Predatory lending in city just a conspiracy theory First, Wells Fargo is accused of redlining. Perhaps they wanted to stay away from high risk loans? Now it is predatory lending practices ("The suit must go on," June 30). Perhaps they were "encouraged" to do so by the Fed's policies? No one forced the folks receiving the loans to sign the documents. It was incumbent upon those receiving the loan to review the terms and conditions. Many chose the subprime loans because they didn't have to provide proof of income.

Sometimes it doesn't pay to get a raise. At a time of fiscal constraints and shrinking revenues, when City Hall is demanding cutbacks in public agencies and deferring salary upgrades for mid-level managers, Baltimore's top elected officials last month authorized a cost-of-living increase for themselves and the City Council. The annual 2.5 percent raise is proving to be more trouble than it's worth - the phones in some City Hall offices are ringing. Forgoing the annual adjustment would have banked Mayor Sheila Dixon, Comptroller Joan M. Pratt and Council President Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake some well-deserved political capital.

WASHINGTON - After largely staying on the sidelines, the types of independent groups that so affected the 2004 presidential campaign are flooding back as players in the final sprint to the election this fall, financing provocative messages on television, in mailboxes and through the Internet. MoveOn, the progressive group started 10 years ago to fight President Clinton's impeachment, says it will double its advertising budget to $7 million and start a new campaign this week that ties Republican John McCain to lobbyists.

THE NEWS from Iraq has been getting better, and critics of the war should recognize this. The number of insurgent attacks has been dropping, and American casualties are sharply lower this month. Iraqi security forces are making a better showing, and one result has been to push the insurgents out of the cities and into the countryside, where they are easier to track down. Lulls, nonetheless, have happened before; more ominously, it is difficult to imagine how the political process now under way can avoid a very large crack-up in the road just ahead.

Apparently smarting from the bashing it has been taking over failure to land the Freewing Aerial Robotics Co. plant, the Industrial Development Authority of Carroll County has responded with its version of the failed negotiations. Ever since it DTC began dealing with Freewing, Carroll County economic development officials have refused to comment on any aspect of the talks. As a result, most news reports reflected only Freewing's version of events.From the county's perspective, Freewing executives made a number of impractical demands.

Parents and teachers know that consistent enforcement is critical. A child or student does not thrive with mixed messages; the policies of the home or classroom must be reliable to ensure effective management. Yet in adult relationships - and in relations between nations - the importance of consistency is often forgotten. This is certainly true of American policy toward Egypt, its closest Arab ally. While U.S. policies in the Middle East have never been dependable, let alone consistent, a recent blot on U.S. attempts to bring democracy and freedom has emerged in Egypt.

SOCIAL SECURITY used to be called the third rail of politics, but illegal immigration is the real third rail that both political parties are afraid to touch. Cops who find illegal aliens are under orders not to turn them in to the feds. And the federal government's own border guards have their hands tied by the higher-ups as well. Now that Hispanics are the largest minority in the country, and with the country closely divided politically, neither party wants to risk alienating the Hispanic vote by enforcing immigration laws.